By: Sarmad Shahbaz
Citizen Journalism is an evolving phenomenon in a rapidly changing digital sphere. It’s a future. Citizen Journalists are now part of the news platforms, offering new voices and a variety of perspectives.
“Citizen Journalism has been around for centuries, but each technological advance has made it easier to reach more people,” said Valer Belace, who leads the Yale University Information Society Project.
A 6-days long residency program commenced by awarding Citizen Journalism honor to 30 young emerging change-makers on 9th February 2019. The program named Sub Bolo Citizen Journalism Residency Program (CJRP) was first of its kind in Pakistan initiated by PUAN (Pakistan U.S Alumni Network) in support of U.S Embassy and Consulate General, Lahore.
This fully funded residency program was held at Lincoln Corner in Information Technology University, Lahore. The diversity of the participants was amazing as it ensured people from every walk of life including students, young professionals, activists, advocates, and researchers. These young change-makers are doing remarkable work in their respective areas. From engineering to medicines to social sciences, the participant’s pack was fully occupied with a variety of different backgrounds.
Speakers from respective fields were invited for interactive sessions and hardcore training on Citizen Journalism, how people can counter the tragic incidents as a citizen and what is the role of a Citizen Journalist. Training had tons of other topics as well including ethical journalism, what to do and what not to do as a journalist, legal grounds in journalism etc.
Participants named Mr. Sarmad Shahbaz, Mr. Adeel Sammar, Mr. Raja Saad, Ms. Iqra Liaqat, Ms. Hafsa Khalid, Mr. Arslan Chohan, Ms. Narmeen Iftikhar, Mr. Muhammad Awais, Ms. Noshaba Sattar, Ms. Ayesha Gull, Mr. Anosh Albert and others were awarded tribute and acclaimed as Citizen Journalist by Ms. Elizabeth Lee, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, Lahore US Consulate and Ms. Farzana Shahid, Director of Academics (ITU).
Adding to this, the residency program ended with a very high note and worthy motivations for the participant to bring a practical change and to promote the Freedom of Speech in the state. Respected Organizers named Mr. Zeeshan Ahmad, Ms. Maryam Gul, Ms. Almas Noor and Ms. Behzad Taimur were extremely blissful to see the energies and devotions of the participants.
It also concluded with a Citizen Journalism Portal where people can post their stories for free and get recognized as citizen journalism from an emerging platform. Citizen Journalism Portal as an action project gives everyone space to play their role in society.
Ending this with a tag line that SUB BOLO is more than just citizen journalists — It’s about community.
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